masculine

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English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

  • m., m (abbreviation, grammar)

Etymology

From Middle English masculyne, masculyn, from Old French masculin, from Latin masculīnus, diminutive of masculus (“male, manly”), itself a diminutive of mās (“male”). Displaced native Old English werlīċ (literally “manly”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

masculine (comparative more masculine, superlative most masculine)

  1. Of or pertaining to the male gender; manly.
  2. Of or pertaining to the male sex; biologically male, not female.
    Synonym: male
    Antonyms: female, womanly
  3. Belonging to males; typically used by males.
    “John”, “Paul”, and “Jake” are masculine names.
  4. Having the qualities stereotypically associated with men: virile, aggressive, not effeminate.
    • 1818, Henry Hallam, View of the state of Europe during the Middle ages:
      That lady, after her husband's death, held the reins with a masculine energy.
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; , London: Iohn Williams , →OCLC:
      […] a masculine church.
    Synonyms: manly, virile
    Antonyms: effeminate, emasculated, epicene, unmanly
  5. (grammar) Of, pertaining or belonging to the male grammatical gender, in languages that have gender distinctions.
    Synonym: male
    Coordinate terms: feminine, neuter, common
    1. (of a noun) Being of the masculine class or grammatical gender, and inflected in that manner.
      The noun Student is masculine in German.
    2. (of another part of speech) Being inflected in agreement with a masculine noun.
      German uses the masculine form of the definite article, der, with Student.
  6. (grammar, Mongolic languages, of any word) Having the vowel harmony of a back vowel.
    Coordinate term: feminine

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

masculine (plural masculines)

  1. (grammar) The masculine gender.
    • 2009, Carlos Quiles, Fernando López-Menchero, A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, Second Edition:
      The masculine functions as the negative term in the opposition, i.e. when the gender is not defined, the masculine is used.
  2. (grammar) A word of the masculine gender.
    • 1905, George Theodore Dippold, A German grammar for high schools and colleges:
      As to the class to which the masculines of the strong declension belong, we repeat that […]
  3. That which is masculine.
    • 2004, Leonora Leet, The Universal Kabbalah:
      These forces would also seem to reflect the gender distinction that can be made with respect to the divine, the feminine associated with the divine as immanent within the finite and the masculine with the divine transcendence and the infinite.
  4. (rare, possibly obsolete) A man.
    • 1868, The Ladies' Repository, A Universalist Monthly Magazine For The Home Circle. Volume XXXIX ‎, page 458 (left column):
      I think women, at least those who do their own work, would live very simply in that respect, if there were none of the masculines to feed.

Translations

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mas.ky.lin/
  • Audio (Paris)(file)
  • Hyphenation: mas‧cu‧line
  • Rhymes: -in

Adjective

masculine

  1. feminine singular of masculin

Latin

Adjective

masculīne

  1. vocative masculine singular of masculīnus

References

  • “masculine”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • masculine in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Adjective

masculine

  1. Alternative form of masculyn

Romanian

Pronunciation

Adjective

masculine

  1. feminine/neuter plural nominative/accusative of masculin
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